Monthly Archives: January 2017

Team pages for the Autism Speaks Walks are pretty standard fare. You can go to each page to learn a little bit about a team who is pledging to raise money and donate to them yourself. A quick search of participants shows a wide variety of folks including companies, families, and organizations, which made the “Soldiers of Odin Canada - Ontario South Division“ not particularly unique outside of the comparatively large roster (most team pages are for about 2 people, Soldiers’ page has 10). That is of course, unless you know who the Soldiers of Odin are.At first glance, one might assume they’re just a biker group. Both the name and their team picture, featuring a number of guy all wearing leathers and jean vests, suggest as much. Being a biker group is fine. Bikers have been making the headlines for … Continue Reading ››

Split is M. Night Shyamalan's latest film. Over the course of its story, teenage girls are brutally attacked, watch their friends die, and get both their entrails and strategically sexy parts of their clothing ripped to pieces by a monster. The characters are one-dimensional and unrealistic, nothing more than plot devices. It's basically your generic B-movie, except for one very crucial difference: The monster isn’t the result of a science experiment gone horribly wrong or a supernatural demon. The “monster” is a person with DID, or Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Honestly, saying 'person' is a bit of a stretch as Shyamalan never treats Kevin, our monster, with any shred of humanity. In Shyamalan's vision of mental illness, Kevin doesn't get to be a person. Every other character, no matter how flat, has a life outside of the horror narrative. Kevin's entire existence, in contrast, is that of brutal violence and … Continue Reading ››

What started out as a small group of women coming together after the election turned into one of the largest demonstrations in American history. It was for women. It was peaceful. It was sassy. And importantly, it incorporated a population that is often excluded from progressive causes: The disabled community. But you might not have known that from media coverage or even the programming of the Women’s March itself.
When you have a disability getting to and participating in demonstrations involves detailed advance planning. In order to help out, the Women’s March had an ADA tent. I volunteered While working in the ADA tent, I heard from many people who had difficulty on buses and airlines, difficulty trying to rent or borrow mobility equipment, and difficulty asking friends and family to help support them during the march. I asked a friend to come, not only because I wanted her to be … Continue Reading ››

Serge F. Kovaleski is a Pulitzer-awarded investigative reporter at The New York Times. He has been a journalist for more than 30 years and has worked for the New York Times since 2006. Kovaleski has been in the media quite a lot recently, but most times I see his image or hear him discussed, his name has been stripped away. He has been re-shaped into the iconic “disabled reporter mocked by Donald Trump.”
I am not defending Trump’s mockery. It was childish and despicable. That said, in the long litany of Trump’s offenses against human decency, it is not the worst thing Donald Trump has done during this election cycle. But Kovaleski has been treated poorly now by both sides and it’s time to stop presenting him as a token in ongoing political battles.
Trump is not the only one to assault Kovaleski’s humanity. Since Trump’s ridicule , the story has been … Continue Reading ››